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nini23 's review for:
The Substitute
by Nicole Lundrigan
Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.
I had read another one of Nicole Lundrigan's works - Thaw - many years ago and was pleased to re-discover this author. The Substitute's genre, psychological thriller, is one I don't read very much but there was something in the description that aroused my curiosity. The small town is rocked to its roots when a young female student is found hanging in the backyard of a substitute science teacher. The chapters alternate between POVs of the substitute science teacher Warren and an unknown chilling protagonist who may be the murderer.
To me, it seemed liked a cross between The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and We Need to Talk About Kevin. Both Warren Botts and the other unknown tween protagonist (perhaps the one and same person?) are extremely intelligent, in the knowing of facts and figures. Both are socially inept and lonesome, exhibiting traits of obsessive compulsive personality disorder (plus maybe Asperger's). Both grew up in broken dysfunctional homes, with their dads killing themselves. For that matter, most of the characters seem to be wrestling with some internal dysfunction, whether it's the deceased student who was facing tremendous pressure to the female town sheriff whose professional behaviour is quite appalling.
Between the two, I found the tween voice more compelling. Burdened by more than what was fair at that age, the adult hypocrisy and the inexplicable ways of the adult world pointed out in an acidic manner was one of the highlights of the book. Of course the way in which contraptions were tested and injustice corrected is not to be condoned (is this person a psychopath having expressed no remorse?) but I could understand their stance and where they were coming from so kudos to the author.
Warren Botts, on the other hand, didn't quite pass the authenticity test for me. The details just didn't add up. Most PhD candidates live and breathe their thesis, yet Warren seems to give nary a thought to it. What is the subject of his thesis - this is never mentioned beyond mentions of a vague lab setting. A believable sidestep to his current position would be teaching assistant to university level biology students, not substitute physics high school teacher. I am also rather tired of the cliche oversimplified media portrayal of dysfunctional genius nerd, The Big Bang Theory being a prime example. Warren with his stutter, obsessive counting and general ineptness dealing with his life seems like a caricature of that. In addition, his supposedly high IQ and background in graduate Biology academia was not convincingly portrayed.
Small town mob justice, trailer park life and the challenges of public high school teaching in this modern age rounded out this novel nicely.
I had read another one of Nicole Lundrigan's works - Thaw - many years ago and was pleased to re-discover this author. The Substitute's genre, psychological thriller, is one I don't read very much but there was something in the description that aroused my curiosity. The small town is rocked to its roots when a young female student is found hanging in the backyard of a substitute science teacher. The chapters alternate between POVs of the substitute science teacher Warren and an unknown chilling protagonist who may be the murderer.
To me, it seemed liked a cross between The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and We Need to Talk About Kevin. Both Warren Botts and the other unknown tween protagonist (perhaps the one and same person?) are extremely intelligent, in the knowing of facts and figures. Both are socially inept and lonesome, exhibiting traits of obsessive compulsive personality disorder (plus maybe Asperger's). Both grew up in broken dysfunctional homes, with their dads killing themselves. For that matter, most of the characters seem to be wrestling with some internal dysfunction, whether it's the deceased student who was facing tremendous pressure to the female town sheriff whose professional behaviour is quite appalling.
Between the two, I found the tween voice more compelling. Burdened by more than what was fair at that age, the adult hypocrisy and the inexplicable ways of the adult world pointed out in an acidic manner was one of the highlights of the book. Of course the way in which contraptions were tested and injustice corrected is not to be condoned (is this person a psychopath having expressed no remorse?) but I could understand their stance and where they were coming from so kudos to the author.
Warren Botts, on the other hand, didn't quite pass the authenticity test for me. The details just didn't add up. Most PhD candidates live and breathe their thesis, yet Warren seems to give nary a thought to it. What is the subject of his thesis - this is never mentioned beyond mentions of a vague lab setting. A believable sidestep to his current position would be teaching assistant to university level biology students, not substitute physics high school teacher. I am also rather tired of the cliche oversimplified media portrayal of dysfunctional genius nerd, The Big Bang Theory being a prime example. Warren with his stutter, obsessive counting and general ineptness dealing with his life seems like a caricature of that. In addition, his supposedly high IQ and background in graduate Biology academia was not convincingly portrayed.
Small town mob justice, trailer park life and the challenges of public high school teaching in this modern age rounded out this novel nicely.